Saturday, September 15, 2012

Blondie at Sunrise

Last night, I saw Blondie, for the first time ever, live in concert. Here in Citrus Heights in California, in the parking lot of the local shopping mall.

Seriously; something great happened to Citrus Heights this year. Someone had the brilliant idea to set up an outdoor "pavilion", with good-view seating for around 2,500 people... and to put on a great series of shows. Last night's double act--Devo, followed by Blondie--was the final concert in the Sunrise at Night series. I hope there are more next summer. Maybe this should become a permanent feature of the shopping mall parking lot?

For the Blondie/Devo shows, the back of the stage was a huge screen of lights; changing constantly, colours, patterns, words and pictures. It made a fascinating backdrop to both shows.

Ms Harry, as beautiful as ever. Chris Stein on guitar... "Hanging on the Telephone", "Call Me", "One Way or Another", and "Heart of Glass", but also newer songs, and a brilliant cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax", and the Beastie Boys "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn".

But for me, the show was almost stolen by the new kid: Tommy Kessler (www.tommykessler.com). If you've never heard him play guitar, you might just want to take a look and a listen.

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